Early Voting Overview — 17 States, Nov 3, 2026 BETA

Data as of: see below
How to read thisParty margins use the registered party of voters who have cast ballots (party-registration states only), not votes for candidates. Comparisons line up 2026 with past elections at the same number of days before Election Day. Each state counts something slightly different, so check the state rows before comparing totals. Methods & sources
Not a national sample. This page combines only the 17 states this dashboard tracks that have 2026 data (AZ, CO, FL, GA, IA, KS, ME, MI, MN, NC, NE, NV, OH, PA, TX, VA, WI). They were picked for competitive races and good data, not to represent the country. Each state counts different things (mail only, mail plus in person), reports on different schedules, and changed its laws between cycles. Read the state-by-state bars first; the combined total is a rough summary.

What the numbers say

2026 pace vs past cycles, by state (same days before Election Day)

Percent change in ballots cast before Election Day, 2026 vs the chosen year, at the same number of days out. Each state uses its own measure (see table below). † = secondary-source data. Lighter bars = nearest available day, not an exact match. Georgia bars use the official file; a newer secondary total, when there is one, is in the state table below. Pick a comparison year:

Combined total, comparable states

Party margin of early ballots: 2026 vs 2022

Democratic minus Republican share of ballots cast so far, in percentage points, at the same days out where both years report party (otherwise the nearest such day, noted in the tooltip). States with party registration only; Arizona's 2022 margin comes from a partisan tracker (secondary). Bars to the right = more Democratic than 2022 at this point.

State by state

How the comparisons differ

  • Presidential vs midterm: 2024 was a presidential election, so nearly every state trails it. 2022 and 2018 (midterms) are the fairer comparisons.
  • Different measures: Florida, Texas and Michigan counts are mostly mail ballots until in-person early voting opens statewide (Texas Oct 19; Florida and Michigan Oct 24). North Carolina, Kansas and Ohio include early in-person voting, which started earlier in some states this year than in past years.
  • Different calendars: early voting start dates moved between cycles (NC started Oct 15 this year vs Oct 20 in 2022; Iowa cut early voting from 29 to 20 days in 2021). A state can look far ahead or behind just because its window opened on a different day.
  • Reporting lags: each state posts on its own schedule (dates in the bar at the top), and each state is compared at its own latest day.
  • Law changes: Ohio (SB 293) and Kansas (SB 4) now require mail ballots to arrive by Election Day; Maine opened its ongoing absentee list to everyone; Michigan created a permanent absentee list in 2022; Florida's SB 90 (2021) made voters re-request mail ballots more often. Details are on each state page.
  • Virginia uses secondary sources (marked †): the official ELECT Daily Absentee List is sold, not posted, so 2022 comes from VPAP and 2024/2026 from EPEC/Digital Poll Watchers, both built from that file. Pennsylvania is mail only (no in-person early voting) and has no 2018 comparison because no-excuse mail voting began in 2020.
  • Colorado (†): 2026 from civicAPI until the state posts its daily workbooks; past years are official but start 14–15 days out, and 2026 ballots went out a week earlier (HB26-1113). Oregon has a page but isn't counted here yet: its 2026 report hasn't been posted.
  • Nebraska uses secondary sources (†): the Secretary of State posts no daily early-vote figures. 2026 comes from civicAPI, and the 2022 same-day comparison (with the matching 2026 day) from figures @NE2EarlyVote posts from the state files. Osborn, the Senate candidate, is an independent, so party margins don't map onto that race.
  • Nevada is compared on Clark County only (official county files: mail ballots received plus in-person early votes), 2026 vs 2024 at the same days out. Clark is about 70% of the state's votes. Because it's one county, Nevada is left out of the combined totals. There's no 2022 comparison, because Clark's 2022 in-person file is no longer online. The Nevada page has the Clark + Washoe official headline (about 88% of voters) and a slot for the Secretary of State's statewide total.
  • Minnesota and Wisconsin use secondary sources (†) for 2026 (civicAPI, from the state files; the official sites block automated downloads). Minnesota past points are weekly, so it is compared with the nearest past day. Wisconsin has no 2018 comparison.
  • Arizona uses secondary sources: there is no official statewide daily report in 2026. 2018 comes from the Secretary of State's daily update as posted by Garrett Archer, 2022/2024 from Sam Almy's tracker built from county return files (rounded figures), and 2026 from Stealth Analytics' totals of county files (a few county files are 1–8 days old). All four count ballots received by counties, so Arizona is included in the combined totals, marked †.
  • Combined total: only states with an exact same-day statewide match are added up, and big states (Florida, Michigan) dominate the sum.

Sources

    Every number comes from the state pages, which cite official sources. Data: overview-data.js.